Thomas Hübl is a modern mystic, spiritual teacher, author, and systems-thinker. His work integrates the essence of the great wisdom traditions, scientific knowledge, and his own personal experience.

Thomas offers a unique approach to life as a ‘mystic in the marketplace’ and helps people to attain a deeper level of self-awareness and personal relationship and to transcend a ‘culture of the personal’ and a self-centered worldview. Through his work, people from all walks of life learn how to become a living expression of spirit and how to participate in ‘we cultures’ through an embodied inner and outer connection.

His teachings combine transformation through the integration of trauma, somatic sensitization, advanced meditative practice, and a deepening understanding of cultural processes. Since 2004, Thomas’ leading-edge work has spread worldwide through workshops, multi-year training programs, and online courses. The non-profit ‘Celebrate Life Festival‘ brings together more than 1,200 people every year and has showcased a wide network of experts in various disciplines, through dialogue and exchange. In 2008 Thomas founded the ‘Academy of Inner Science’. This provided a framework for dialogue between the inner science of consciousness and the external scientific-academic exploration of life.

Over the years Thomas has also organized several major healing events, aimed at healing the Holocaust’s cultural shadows. Thousands of Germans and Israelis have been brought together through these processes. In 2016 Thomas and his wife Yehudit founded the non-profit ‘Pocket Project‘, with the aim of exploring collective trauma and shadow work and integrating this through large-scale group processes. A global organization has been launched, intended to research and explore specific aspects of local traumatization. This applies both to past traumas and also to current conflict zones. Thomas was born in Austria in 1971 and now lives in Tel Aviv, Israel, with his wife, the Israeli artist Yehudit Sasportas and their daughter Eliya.

This video contains my Question and Answer session at the 2018 Science and Nonduality conference. and also an interview of me by Shakti Caterina Maggi, an Italian spiritual teacher who used to be a journalist. My SAND Q&A includes the following points:

How BatGap started.
Which guests have been the most interesting, provocative, intriguing, brilliant, mysterious, surprising, etc.?
What insights have I gained? How has this process influenced my spiritual path? What do I experience while I’m interviewing people? What do I foresee for BatGap in the next few years?
How to deal with family and friends who don’t understand your awakening or interest in spirituality?
A consideration of sudden vs. gradual awakenings.
How do I regard the urgency of humanity’s need to take a spiritual/cultural leap in response to the dire predicament facing us?
The joy and challenge of speaking with people from such a broad range of spiritual backgrounds.
Why science and spirituality need and can benefit one another.
The importance of understanding consciousness to be the fundamental to the universe rather than merely a product of brain functioning.

Shakti’s interview includes the following points:

In which direction are we as consciousness moving? How might the growing awakening of consciousness help humanity avert disaster?

Embodied spirituality vs. avoidance of life through transcendence. Consciousness is relevant to every field of human endeavor.
Consciousness is fundamental to matter.

Finding the foundation of our being and dealing with individual planetary problems from that foundation.
Ethical standards for spiritual teachers.

When is one ready to become a spiritual teacher? The potential consequences of entering the profession prematurely.

The guru is a function of consciousness which can work through imperfect bodies and personalities.

The importance of teachers and students having the humility to acknowledge that we’re all works in progress.

Culturing discernment and discrimination.
Having the freedom to ask anything in a teacher/student relationship in order to dispel doubts.

Is it possible to establish absolute guidelines on appropriate teacher behavior?

The quality of awakening will vary according to one’s constitution.
Awakening enhances individual differences while establishing our fundamental unity.

Sticking with one teacher vs. working with many.
The importance of sincerity. The principle of “the highest first”.

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Published on Dec 19, 2018
The Association of Professional Spiritual Teachers does not have a moralistic, judgmental orientation. It’s a community endeavor. We don’t agree among ourselves on certain points. We’re trying to balance our subjective perspectives with standards that fit our contemporary culture.

A key point of disagreement is the issue of teacher-student romantic/sexual relationships. None of us are rigid or adamant in our opinions.We’re trying to work it out.

There are exceptions to every generality. In graduate school, psychotherapists are taught that it will never be appropriate for therapist sand their clients to become partners.

Relationships tend to be the most challenging aspect of people’s lives. These challenges shouldn’t bleed into a teacher’s teaching activities.

When a teacher/student or therapist/client relationship transitions into romantic involvement, the potential for growth is undermined.
Sometimes “divine compulsion” arises in your spiritual path,shattering your conception of appropriate behavior.

The problem with teachers who haven’t transcended desire and explored their own shadow.
There can be a huge disparity between the apparent enlightenment of a teacher and their behavior.

Isolation and being closed to constructive criticism can be very dangerous for a teacher.

If a teacher doesn’t have friends other than his students,he might want to ask why. If he doesn’t have regular relationships and is always on a pedestal, he won’t get real world feedback.
The culture is changing anyway. We’re just trying to give voice to values that are becoming lively in collective consciousness.
There can be a lot of practice involved in having your actions be a reflection of your deepest understanding.

The founding of the Association of Professional SpiritualTeachers.
The attempt to formulate a code of ethics that might applyuniversally in the contemporary spiritual community and enliven an understanding of what may or may not be appropriate, giving students greater confidence in their own discernment and discrimination.

Ancient traditions held the teacher beyond reproach and students surrendered their own will. This may have worked in monastic settingsbut generally does not work today.

Preventative support so we’re not busy doing cleanup.

Power hierarchies should not be an essential part ofspiritual development and can lead to abuses.

Spiritual awakening does not necessarily qualify a person tooffer advice on relationships, finances, etc.
Ethical training of some sort is integral to most honoredtraditions.
The issue of sexism and patriarchy in spiritualorganizations.

Entering the teaching profession prematurely.

All too often, when teachers are challenged on their behavior, they ignore the challenger or become defensive.

How do we offer the possibility for redemption and atonement?

Moving away from a culture of competition to one ofcooperation.
The importance of humility.

The importance of teachers not identifying with their role and thinking that students’ devotion is about them.

David grew up on the SW coast of Canada. He began witnessing full time during a 6-month retreat in the mid-’70s then the lights came on and celestial perception began. It soon became clear that Self was awake within but had not woken up to Itself through this form yet. Self co-existed with an identified ego. Subtle perception continued to unfold in a myriad of ways.

With a more outward stroke into career, marriage, and family, inner development continued but took a back seat to life’s responsibilities.

Then in 2005, much of the old life fell away and spirituality moved back to the foreground. After some feedback and darshan with Lorne Hoff, Self at last woke up to Itself here. Probably because of the long witnessing, this was quickly followed by a series of profound shifts in Being. (see my first BatGap interview) And then transcending Being into Brahman. In 2011, David was awarded a graduate degree in Vedic Science.

In this interview, we had an extended preamble to touch on the earlier shifts, then we discussed the ParaBrahman shift, pure Divinity, and how embodied Divinity is waking up laws of nature. This process will help raise the presence of Divinity in consciousness.

In the second part of the interview, we touched on the book Our Natural Potential describing the 7 stages of enlightenment, then explored some related topics.

For over a decade, David has been blogging on a wide range of subjects related to unfolding enlightenment. Under the nickname Davidya, he has posted close to 2,000 articles. During the Science and Nonduality Conference in 2017, David gave a talk on the stages described in this interview.

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As the author of a book that was used to influence millions of voters in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election through social media disinformation campaigns (without his knowledge), Sean Webb probably knows the human mind as well as anyone can. From his work in logically modeling human emotions for the world of Artificial Emotional Intelligence, to his real-world practice as an author, speaker, and guide to helping individuals supercharge their minds and lives with the knowledge of how their mind works, Sean pushes the bleeding edge of mind sciences to the next level. The interesting part; Sean credits his knowledge to a conscious awakening he had 20 years ago which unfolded how the mind, the universe, and consciousness works both within and outside the human body. And science is proving him right. Over the last 20 years, Sean has become one of the world’s leading experts in how the human mind works, particularly in the area of human emotions, the driving force and motivation of all human actions globally. His work is used by universities and engineering firms to teach emotional intelligence, the foundations of artificial emotional intelligence and his discoveries have proved so effective, that his work is currently being turned into programs to address addiction management and the mitigation of PTSD after early amazing successes within those applications. As an alumnus of Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technologies Development Center, Sean has spent years solving complex systems problems for cutting edge technology and supercomputing companies. His latest complex system solve is associated with the mind; how to model mind processes, how to manipulate mind output, and how to use those disciplines to our collective human advantage. His heart lies in this last portion of the project; teaching individuals about our minds so as to understand the thought processes that steal our happiness and block our ability to enjoy life. He loves sharing the practical neuroscience of how to hack the mind to generate happiness from within without any strings attached, and without changing any of life’s external conditions. He has indeed discovered a new door into the deep mind manipulation, where only practiced meditation and psychedelics have been able to take us before. “And the simple fact is that I pulled it all out of the void,” Sean tells us. Sean has spoken at Science of Consciousness, Science and Nonduality, UNC, UGA, ASU, Emory, Georgia Tech, for numerous multinational corporations, and at NASA. Check out Sean’s work at MindHackingHappiness.com. Sean and his wife are licensed foster parents and are active in numerous children’s and animal charities.

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Rupert Sheldrake, PhD is a biologist and author of more than 85 scientific papers and 12 books, including Science Set Free and Science and Spiritual Practices. He was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge University, a Frank Know Fellow at Harvard, and a Research Fellow of the Royal Society. From 2005-2010 the Director of the Perrott-Warrick Project for research on unexplained human and animal abilities, funded by Trinity College, Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Petaluma, California, and of Schumacher College in Devon, England.

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Childhood accustomed me to nature, solitude – a sense of God which needed no explaining. Stillness, beauty, depths of love called my heart back home where it belonged. But life grew out into the world, became possessed and lost the way.

After a few unwilling years in business, I went to South America ‘To make the world a better place’. It wasn’t so easy. Alone on a mountainside one day, an inner voice said, ‘To make whole, be whole’. I realised that, before being able to help others, I first had to work on myself. Once back in England, I looked for and found a source of meditation, which opened up a whole new way of seeing.

How can I best help the world I love? This question led me through organic farming, much travel and many adventures to ever deeper understanding of the Work of Prayer.

I wouldn’t call myself a mystic though some say I am. I’m not sure what it means besides “Not this – not that”. Neither (in a conventional sense) am I very religious. “Mystic” conveys to me a wise unknowing of morning mist with only the promise of a day to come. It’s not an intellectual approach defined by man but trusting, waiting, quietly still before each blade of grass, each little bird (Mat.6,26-28) reminding us of higher, nobler government than ours.

This required attending to the moment “Now”, reminding me how much we live not present, here, but absent, lost in past or future – thought, desires and fear. But isn’t that reality? We need to look and see.

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As a teenager, Steve Briggs met his guru at a meditation retreat in the Swiss Alps. After studying English Literature at the University of Arizona on a tennis scholarship, the author received an MBA and a Ph.D. in Vedic Studies, and traveled internationally instructing thousands in the art of meditation.

Steve is a devotee of Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma), whom he met in India in 1996. He has been practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM) for the past 46 years and credits his guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, with showing him the path to enlightenment.

Steve currently coaches the Maharishi School boys’ tennis team. His players have won four state high school championships, including the 2014 triple crown. Steve has trained two national champions and a top 50 ATP professional tour player.

In 1994, Steve Briggs was sent to India to teach TM to corporate executives. During his seven years in India, Steve traveled repeatedly to the high Himalaya where he encountered many yogis and sadhus.

The author’s first book, India Mirror of Truth, was a popular memoir about his time in India.
Steve’s second book, The Tale of the Himalayan Yogis: The Nirvana Chronicles, is a novel set in India and Tibet. View Here

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Rob Schwartz is a hypnotist who offers Spiritual Guidance Sessions, Past Life Soul Regressions, Contact a Deceased Loved One Regressions, and Between Lives Soul Regressions to help you heal and discover your life plan – a plan you yourself created BEFORE you were born. Rob’s first book, Your Soul’s Plan: Discovering the Real Meaning of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born, explores the pre-birth planning of physical illness, having disabled children, deafness, blindness, drug addiction, alcoholism, the death of a loved one, and accidents. Rob’s second book, Your Soul’s Gift: The Healing Power of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born, explores the pre-birth planning of spiritual awakening, miscarriage, abortion, care-giving, sexuality, adoption, rape, incest, poverty, mental illness, and even the pre-birth planning we do with our future pets. Rob’s books have been translated into 24 languages.

Sarah is an actor, writer, stand up comedian, and spiritual and creative mentor living in Los Angeles. As a child, creativity and spirituality were in the forefront of her life. The lived experience of unity faded as trauma and stress from a troubled home edged out this awareness. But as Sarah began to discover singing and acting, she was hooked on the transcendence they evoked.

Creativity became her church.

She studied acting, graduated from California Institute of The Arts, and moved to Los Angeles. She began to question who she was and an impending initial awakening was thwarted by getting on a heavy dose of antidepressants. Overmedicated, misdiagnosed, and frozen in a suspended state for roughly a decade, Sarah eventually got off all medication and began a quest for truth.

An anxious, atheistic insomniac who simply wanted to get a good night’s sleep, in 2007 she took up meditation, immersed herself in Buddhist practice, and got way more than she asked for. She immediately began having deep, altering experiences on the spiritual path. She displayed an ease and familiarity with meditation practices, most notably those of Padmasambhava. At this time, Sarah began teaching meditation to other anxious artists as well as at companies.

She soon began undergoing a series of profound awakenings, which included Kundalini energy, intuitive abilities, and dark nights of the soul that uncovered old trauma to be healed. Even though she was studying Buddhism, there was not much support for this transformation and Sarah was lost for awhile.

While navigating this radical shift in identity, she was working and creating as an actor and writer/stand up comedian, performing nightly at the comedy clubs in Los Angeles. She fell in love, too! Eventually, a settling, clearing, and integration of these shifts began to take place.

In 2016, Sarah awakened into unity with a deeper dissolution of who she had taken herself to be, abiding in a revelation of her true nature, delighting in being nothing and everything at once. A deepening and a maturation continue to unfold.

Sarah mentors people who are committed to the path of the modern, creative mystic. She leads women’s circles, retreats, and meetings, and sees people one-on-one.

Her writing and performing continue to evolve. Her humorous memoir, The Divine Mess: A Journey Through Love, Los Angeles, and Enlightenment is in the works, as is an hour-long live show.

Dr. Jean Houston, Ph.D., is a scholar, philosopher, educator and a recognized pioneer of the Human Potential Movement. Widely recognized as a visionary leader and multi-cultural expert, Houston is the author of over 30 books exploring human possibilities and positive action in the world. Houston served as an advisor in human and cultural development for UNICEF, and to national and international heads of state.

Houston has devoted her life to developing processes to activate the latent abilities in individuals, groups, organizations, and societies. Over the last 60 years, Dr. Houston has worked in over 109 countries as an international speaker and teacher. Dr. Houston is the Chancellor of Meridian University and a dedicated champion of the human spirit.

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Suzanne Stryker is an intuitive healer, artist, writer and teacher. She has always tended to have profound spiritual experiences.

For over 45 years Suzanne has experienced unity, with divine and Vedic perceptions. Yet she does not claim to have reached the pinnacle of evolution, if there even is such a thing. She feels she is a continual blissful work in progress.

Suzanne had a close student/teacher relationship with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In 1976 Maharishi said, “Suzanne is having a positive influence on other people and their experiences, a catalytic effect…”.

Since 1972 Suzanne has been the subject of numerous scientific studies, some of them published in peer-reviewed journals. One study suggested she could influence matter at the quantum mechanical level by mere intention. EEG studies recorded different types of brain wave coherence not typically seen, indicating harmonious and orderly functioning between different parts of her brain.

She was interviewed for Oprah’s “Next Chapter” show (not yet aired). She has been asked to be in a movie with David Lynch on Maharishi’s life.

Through distance healings and phone sessions, she assists people with issues ranging from addiction to dharma. Some of her webinars focus on cultivating intuition, healing and other abilities so that participants can heal themselves and help others as well.

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A pioneer in the field of spiritual emergence, Paul Levy is a wounded healer in private practice, assisting others who are also awakening to the dreamlike nature of reality.

He is the author of * Quantum Revelation: A Radical Synthesis of Science and Spirituality * Awakened by Darkness: When Evil Becomes your Father * Dispelling Wetiko: Breaking the Curse of Evil and * The Madness of George W. Bush: A Reflection of Our Collective Psychosis. He is the founder of the “Awakening in the Dream Community” in Portland, Oregon. An artist, he is deeply steeped in the work of C. G. Jung, and has been a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner for over thirty years. He was the coordinator for the Portland Padmasambhava Buddhist Center for over twenty years.

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An influential and respected teacher of The Esoteric Philosophy, William Meader has established an international reputation for his gift as a communicator of this spiritual philosophy. His extensive teaching program includes a diverse array of workshops and lectures devoted to nurturing a deeper understanding of the spiritual path, both from an individual and global perspective. William Meader resides in Oregon, and presents regular workshops in the United States, Europe, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

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Kosi is a Direct Path Advaita Vedanta Satsang Teacher in the Śiva Kaśyapa Lineage. This teaching is powerful support for a dynamic shift in your consciousness from the fear, sadness, anger, anxiety, and frustration of your mind to the indescribable peace and happiness of your heart. Satsang with Kosi is an extremely potent initiation and transmission of the non-dual teaching of Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi and her holiness Sri Amma Karunamayi.